VIEWPOINT
AMITABH SHUKLA
The Congress saw the mirror only
for a fleeting second when The Economist showed it. The talent or lack of it of
party General Secretary Rahul Gandhi was obvious to everyone for quite a while;
but all these months and years Congress deftly turned a blind eye to it.
It still has a blind eye towards
the first family of the party and would continue to have so but the critical
article on Gandhi in The Economist at least spurred the party men and women to
think afresh whether the Gandhi magic would indeed work wonders for them in the
next few years.
It’s not that Indian media has
not written on the obvious though not in as many words. That Gandhi lacks the
magic, connect, charisma, and is sans the talent which a rising star is required
to possess in politics, has been on and off been written in the media. His
ability to get votes and so called USP of being a youth icon has also been
exposed. Congress never took note of it earlier as it came from the Indian
media. As The Economist is published from Britain ,
the place where Gandhi studied and worked for a few years, it immediately
caught the attention.
In fact, in Viewpoint, I have
deliberated on the issue on a few occasions after having covered the news
conferences, political rallies and gatherings of Gandhi from Delhi, Punjab,
Uttarakhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh,
Rajasthan, Amethi and elsewhere in Uttar Pradesh for almost three years.
During the 2009 Lok Sabha
elections, I covered the public meetings of Gandhi extensively for the news
organization in which I was working then. It was strange to find that he
delivered the same speech at most of the places. After covering two rallies, I
knew what he would say. After three rallies, there was no iota of doubt that
Gandhi had mugged his speeches and was not ready to modify it. Had the speeches
been made 30 years ago, no one would have noticed it. But when each speech is telecast live and
there is media explosion, everyone would notice it which would only expose your
limited abilities.
He soon became a nightmare for
the journalists assigned to cover his public and political functions. The
reason was simple. He was repetitive and journalists covering him got bored
with his speeches sooner than later. There was nothing great to report as he
hardly spoke on any contemporary issue and the problems of the day. All he did
was to sound idealistic and make the right noises without ever being serious
about it. Remember Kalawati and the dalit homes where he spent a few hours. All
of them are still struggling to come to terms with life while Rahul is still
“learning” what to do in politics and how to do it.
Here, I will quote The Economist.
“But he has long refused to take on a responsible position, preferring to work
on reorganising Congress’s youth wing, and leading regional election efforts,
both with generally poor results. The problem is that Mr Gandhi has so far
shown no particular aptitude as a politician, nor even sufficient hunger for
the job. He is shy, reluctant to speak to journalists, biographers, potential
allies or foes, nor even to raise his voice in parliament. Nobody really knows
what he is capable of, nor what he wishes to do should he ever attain power and
responsibility. The suspicion is growing that Mr Gandhi himself does not know.”
There is nothing in the article
what the journalists who have covered Gandhi already do not know. In fact, the
recent book by Aarthi Ramachandran, “Decoding Rahul Gandhi” is a far more
objective and critical biography of the 42-year old leader. Aarthi had been a
regular beat correspondent covering the Congress for quite some time and
provides the analysis which can come only by a journalist who desperately
wanted information from the subject, did not get it but knew the sources from
where to get it to build the larger picture.
Gandhi has been rather reluctant
in parting information or offering his views on what is happening in the
country. He hasn’t held any press conferences in the recent past and no one
knows his opinion on issues like Coalgate, inflation, 2G scam, diesel price
hike or for that matter the performance of India
in Olympics or the way ahead till the 2014 elections. Even during his press
conferences, he used to draw a line and say that his role was limited to the
Indian Youth Congress and the NSUI, the organizations of which he is in-charge
as the AICC General Secretary. So, to know the views of the Congress on
important issues of the day you have to depend on Manish Tiwari, Rashid Alvi,
Renuka Chaudhary, Janardan Dwivedi and Digvijay Singh. As Rahul is above them
in party hierarchy, he would not speak on the issues. His Lieutenants would do
the job. Politics, obviously does not work that way. You have to communicate
and if you fail to do that then you can always remember the assembly election
results of Uttar Pradesh early this year.
Journalists used to flock to
Amethi, the parliamentary constituency represented by Gandhi in Lok Sabha not
long ago as they expected to get a one-to-one interview with him. I also did
the same. Repeated efforts notwithstanding, none succeeded. Now, they have
simply stopped going there. “I am not interested,” seems to be the new message.
This happened because Rahul took the media for granted over a period of time
and built an image of a non-accessible politician who is simply not interested
in you or your questions.
It is almost two months now when
the announcement of Rahul playing a bigger role was made by Congress chief
Sonia Gandhi. Rahul himself agreed to play a bigger role in either the party or
the government, depending on his “two bosses”. Nothing has happened so far. All
the vacant posts in the Cabinet have been filled. It is clear that Rahul does
not want to become a minister. In the
Congress, a debate is on regarding the responsibility to be given to Gandhi in
the party. The debate remains inconclusive. As the will of the party President
Sonia Gandhi and Rahul is sacrosanct in the Congress, the delay is clearly a
reflection on the way the Gandhi scion functions – procrastination, not willing
to take responsibility and indecision.
No doubt he can become the Prime
Minister the moment he or the Congress President wants in the next year and
half before the model code of conduct comes to force for the 2014 general
elections. But after that, it will be the voters who would install a party or
dethrone the ruling. You can fool all
the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you
cannot fool all the people all the time. (September 17, 2012)
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